Corruption In T. Coraghessan Boyle's Greasy Lake

Bruce Springsteen once wrote in his song “Spirit In The Night” does “anybody wanna go on up to Greasy Lake?” T. Coraghessan Boyle referenced this Springsteen song in his short story “Greasy Lake.” Unlike the song which is supposed to be about people having a fun and rebellious night, Boyle turns Springsteen’s lyrics into dark and painful memories. The story was about the narrator, who remained unnamed throughout the entirety of it, and his friends Digby and Jeff who went to hang out at Greasy Lake. They lived in a time where it was “good to be bad” and they did not care about anything in the world. These characters did whatever they wanted, and their actions did have consequences. Throughout the story, the narrator’s personal growth was seen with how he viewed the

He changed what he thought about this rebellion he was a part of and decided he did not want to be involved with it anymore. Their personalities showed how they were frauds in their lives. In “Greasy Lake,” T. Coraghessan Boyle uses the lake, the keys, and the car as symbols to develop the theme of corruption in youth.

The lake is the main symbol in “Greasy Lake” that symbolizes youth corruption. When the narrator enters the lake, he describes it as already being “ankle-deep in muck and tepid water and still going strong” (Boyle 5). The filthy description of the water is used to show the gloomy and corrupt waters in this lake. The lake also was “fetid and murky, the mud banks glittering with broken glass and strewn with beer cans and the charred remains of bonfires” (1). These descriptions revolving around the lake show that this lake was where people went to be “bad” people. Primitive acts were done here,